The Evanescent Beacon
by CrimsonSkies45
Summary: For as long as he could remember, Ichigo Kurosaki has wanted to become a Huntsman. Now that he is finally of age, he and a group of close friends travel to Beacon Academy in hopes of receiving the training and knowledge needed to make their dreams a reality. Joining alongside a fresh batch of first year students, they take the first step towards achieving their goal.
1. Chapter 1: Departure

**AN:** **Aye, so it's been about a year since the last time I've really updated anything here due to my personal life leaving with an unexpectedly small amount of personal time. Recently, I found myself having a renewed interest in both Bleach and RWBY so I figured I'd take another crack at writing this story. I did have this chapter posted a year ago but I found it to be lacking in many departments. With a bit more free time on my hands as of late, I finally got around to getting a decent version of this chapter finished with roughly triple the original word count. I do have some new ideas that I would like to implement but I'll bring that up again in the later chapters. Anyways, I hope you enjoy what I've written. **

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Slowly the sun rose above the horizon, its warm rays being cast over the small town of Karakura. The same bright rays would lightly penetrate through the curtains of a male's room causing him to stir a bit before eventually throwing the covers off of himself. He sat up, running his fingers through his rather unrowly, spiked hair. This was Ichigo Kurosaki, a 17 year old Huntsman in training and soon to be student of Beacon Academy, or at least he hoped. He was rather tall, standing a few inches over six feet in height, with a well built, lanky figure and peach colored skin. His brown eyes scanned the room for a moment, taking note of the soft light that was enveloping his bedroom. He reached over to the edge of his desk, retrieving his scroll from it before promptly expanding the compact device to check the time. He let out a heavy sigh, seeing that he had slept for a bit longer than he had initially intended to.

"I should probably get my ass outta bed already…" Despite having just waking up a few moments ago, he did so quite effortlessly. The teenager would begin to dig around his room for a few things that he needed for both his usual morning routine and today in particular. Grabbing some clothing and throwing a few bags onto his bed, he'd let out a shallow breathe. Seeing as he hasn't eaten yet, it would likely be a good idea for him to do so and take a small break from gathering his belongings. Besides, he's made some pretty good progress on that front for only having been at for roughly five minutes or so. With a somewhat leisurely pace, he'd swing open his door and move towards the stairs.

One might not expect Ichigo to have a desire to be a Huntsman or to have any kind of strong moral code. This was likely due to his two most prominent features, the things that people immediately took note of upon seeing him under normal circumstances. First was his incredibly bright orange hair and his spiked hairstyle while he wasn't sure if it was just the town he lived in or if it was a common thing but the combination of the bright, almost artificial, hair tone that he has on top of the naturally uncooperative hair gave him an appearance that made people assume "delinquent" or "punk" upon seeing him. This was not helped by the fact that his eyebrows were seemingly always furrowed to an extent and the scowl that was planted upon his features. The combination of these two features would be enough to get him labeled, however there was always the fact that he had found himself getting into fights constantly throughout his childhood and early teenage years. This led to him often being labeled as a delinquent by his teachers, or instructors as he called them, as well as his father, though this was done more out of his father's overly clingy nature rather than any actual negatives feelings towards his son. Though despite all of this, he still managed to make friends throughout the years. However, most of these things were in the past and wouldn't really matter all that much. Today was a rather important day for him, he didn't have time to sit there and reminisce about his life so far because he would be getting ready to embark on his journey to the Kingdom of Vale within the next few hours or so.

Ichigo planned to attend Beacon Academy, one of the top Huntsman Academies throughout the four Kingdoms. His desire for this occupation came from an unfortunate encounter with the creatures of Grimm during his childhood. A tragic event for someone so young at the time, one that had resulted in the loss of his mother. For awhile he had blamed himself, really it had shifted who was as a person entirely. After the initial sadness faded, he felt a spark that quickly grew into a raging fire within his heart. It gave him an overwhelming desire to want to protect not only those who were close to him but also those who lacked the means to protect themselves. He wanted to do anything he possibly could to prevent anyone from having to go through something like that. This overwhelming desire to protect those around him also played a rather large role in earning his unsavory reputation. Even within his hometown there were plenty of scumbags that prayed on the week in one way or another, naturally he straightened them out, with assistance at times. If doing the right thing made him a delinquent then he sure as hell was wear that title proudly, though this has led to a bit of conflict between the front he puts up and his actual personality at times.

That fire was currently burning stronger than ever before, it made feel invincible, like he could take on the entire world with his bare hands. As he reached the bottom of the steps, he was a bit surprised by the lack of something. Instead of hearing father yelling out "Good Morning Ichigo!" and attempting to assault him, he was only greeted by the sound of a faint conversation. He stepped off of the bottom step, firmly planting his feet against the floor as he noticed two familiar figures sitting across from one another at the table within their living room. The first was a somewhat stockier older man with spiked black hair and a slight scruff present along his jawline, this was his annoying father Isshin. The other was a younger girl that had some physical similarities to his father in the form of black hair worn in a short ponytail and dark, almost black eyes. The young female was his sister Karin, who couldn't be any more different from their father.

"Morning." The eldest of the Kurosaki children greeted the two present in the same simple and informal manner that he always had. His father, Isshin, would flash a rather silly smile towards him and greet him in a rather overzealous manner. Karin on the other hand would speak in a similar informal manner to her older brother.

"Good morning Ichigo!"

"Morning bro."

"Oh, good morning big brother! You're just in time for breakfast." A voice would speak out, the source being a small distance away from the table in which they were currently situated. Ichigo would glance over to see the source of the voice. Yuzu, his other sister and Karin's fraternal twin, was a much more soft spoken person in comparison to her siblings' more outspoken nature. Similar to their contrasting personalities, Yuzu was practically the complete opposite of Karin, having shoulder length light blonde hair worn in pigtails adorned with bright and more traditionally femine accessories such as bright pink cherry bobbles.

She would begin moving towards the three with dishes in each of her hands and a rather enthusiastic expression upon on her features. She would begin to place the dishes in front of each of her family members before taking her own seat diagonally across from her fraternal twin upon finishing. The Kurosaki family would quickly give show their gratitude for the meal before starting their meal.

They would make some rather light hearted banter over the course of the meal. Despite the seemingly upbeat mood, Ichigo felt that something was off...If he had to guess, it likely had to deal with his departure from his hometown. Of course this was a natural reaction to such a change in the family's daily life. Given how long the family has been around one another, it will certainly be strange, and possibly hard in the case of his father and more upbeat sister, to adjust. Even today felt a bit strange, Isshin not randomly attempting to assault his barely conscious son while yelling out such an enthusiastic greeting was something that made Ichigo feel like something was missing. Given it was a major pain in the ass and he probably won't miss it once he gets used to the absence of this bizarre morning ritual, it was still a part of what he currently considered to be his normal, everyday life.

"I'm gonna go pack the rest of my stuff. I'll be back down in a few minutes." Having finished his meal, Ichigo would gather up his utensils and dishes promptly before giving his gratitude for the meal and informing his family of his current plans. Isshin smiled and wiped away some tears in his eyes as he fought the urge to start crying like an obnoxious man child. Yuzu and Karin predictably reacted as polar opposites. Yuzu smiled brightly at him while Karin simply shrugged his words off and continued eating.

It wouldn't take him all that long to gather the rest of his things as he just needed to finish packing some more clothes as well as other basic items. As he finished jamming everything into his bags, he would turn towards his closet once more and gather a few more articles of clothing before changing into them. His "combat gear" had a strange start as the first item on the list was a tattered and somewhat baggy set of black and white robes that were seemingly missing the left hand portion. The robes only reached his knees due to the bottom section being torn and frayed to the point of looking like an old cloak. The next item was a pair of dark leather bracers with a tight black sleeve of sorts serving as the straps followed by a singular pauldron with a thin piece of leather attached to it that would cover his back. While it would offer some protection in the case that his Aura failed him, its primary purpose was to secure his weapon by acting as a makeshift scabbard of sorts. Underneath all of this, he had decided to wear a dark red muscle shirt, although this naturally would vary from day to day. Due to the robes being tattered, Ichigo had resorted to wearing a pair of black cargo pants which were accompanied by black combat boots with accents of red and white present along the insole and outsole of the boots. Despite how parts of his attire might appear, it was surprisingly protective with the robes and pants having a decently thick layer of padding for added defense. With all of that was sorted, there were just two more items he needed to get before he could head off.

The first of these was purely sentimental and was located within his desk drawer within a small white box. After retrieving said box, Ichigo would open it and taking out a small chain with a silver and blue cross attached to it. It was a gift from his mother that he received for his birthday the year she died. He smiled as he stared at it for a few moments before placing in around his neck and tucking it underneath his shirt. The orange haired teenager would take a few moments to finish collecting his thoughts before moving over to his closet to grab the last and most likely important item for his journey, his weapon.

Zangetsu, a massive and somewhat crude blade that resembled a gargantuan khyber knife. The weapon itself wasn't really anything fancy like most weapons that were used by Huntsman. No mecha-shifting mechanisms that turned it into a gun, no compartments to load dust into, hell the thing didn't even have a guard or a proper hilt. Really it was just a big sword with white cloth wrapped around the lower tang but it definitely got the job done. He looked at it for a moment, thinking back to when he first received the blade for a moment. At the time, it was as tall as he was which made it rather difficult for him to even swing at first. Now, after all these years, the good ole' hunk of metal was practically weightless. He would rest it upon his shoulder for a moment as he got his bags situated promptly before placing the massive blade on his back.

Once more he would make his way down the stairs, however there would be a bit more noise this time around. The first thing that would catch his eye was his father kneeling on the floor with his head facing down and his hands firmly pressed against a large picture of Ichigo's mother, Masaki. Ichigo would promptly let out a rather heavy sigh as he continued forward, unfortunately he was now able to make out the gibberish Isshin was speaking in addition to the loud, obnoxious, and somewhat gross sobbing. While it was a bit nice to hear his father practically shouting how proud he is of him and how much he has grown within the past few years, the scowling male certainly wished that he could find some other way to go about it. His father's current method was something that annoyed him and judging by the death stare Karin was currently aiming towards the head of the Kurosaki family, it was something that bothered her as well. Ichigo would come to a halt next to his father, tilting his head to the side a bit as he began to speak.

"Y'know I'm literally standing right here right? That whole speech you were just giving about me would've been a hell of a lot more touching if you weren't being so annoying about it. Also, when the hell are you going to take this stupid picture down? All you do is cry and whine in front of it. The least you could do is take the damn thing up to your room." He seemed to have gotten his point across as Isshin began to collect himself, or attempt to at least. One might think what Ichigo said was a tad harsh but this certainly wasn't the first time this whole conversation came up. Karin and him had been pleading with their dad to take down the over sized memorial picture of Masaki since Ichigo was 14. Yuzu merely offered a bit of an awkward chuckle in response to the whole situation which a bit unusual as she tended to tell the two to be easier on their father. However, a quick glance over in her direction would reveal the reasoning behind this. Ichigo would observe her for a few moments, watching as she scurried about the compact kitchen area stuffing food into small rectangular lunch boxes before jamming them into a large bag. Before he was able to move further towards the front door, the young blonde would have hastily positioned herself in front of her older brother. With a warm smile she would extend her arms forward, offering Ichigo a large bag.

"Here, I made these for you and the others. That way you won't have to worry about being hungry during your trip." The sentiment would have seemingly broken the scowl present upon Ichigio's face as his lips curled up into a slight smile. He would quickly take the bag from her hands promptly before taking a few moments to sling the bag over his shoulder. It was a bit difficult to get it into a proper position given the rest of what he was carrying but he managed nonetheless.

"Thanks Yuzu." Ichigo would turn his head to look over his shoulder, facing the general direction in which Karin and Isshin were currently positioned. After a moment or two, he would open his mouth before shouting.

"Oi, I'm heading out now!"

"Have a safe trip!" Yuzu and Karin would actually respond with the same phrase with two different tones. Karin's being her usual authoritative and mildly flat tone and Yuzu's being bright and cheery. The sound of his father's sobbing would quickly begin to grow closer causing the orange haired male's eyes to widen for a moment. Isshin quickly leaped in the air, diving towards his eldest child. Ichigo surprisingly not being able to process what just happened quickly enough would be caught up in a tight embrace. His father would continue to give the same incoherent speech about his pride towards his son's growth causing the scowling teen to attempt to pry himself from the clutches of his overly affectionate parent. Yuzu being as emotional as her father would also begin to sob a bit before joining in whilst giving her own little incomprehensible speech that was more so centered around how she would miss him, this being the nail in the coffin as Ichigo just completely stopped resisting the little family huddle he was just forced into. His two emotional family members would attempt, and fail, to coerce Karin to join in.

"Could you two just let him leave? You're being loud!" Isshin and Yuzu would attempt to protest however with their attention currently diverted, Ichigo would manage to weasel his way out of the hug. Dusting himself off, he would quickly sigh before looking towards the two once more.

"Alright, I'm actually heading out now. I don't want to keep the others waiting." Once more, his family would say their goodbyes as he exited his home. As he stepped out, his brown eyes would be drawn towards their home for a moment, more specifically focusing on the large sign that read "Kurosaki Clinic." Living in a house that doubled as a clinic meant there yet another thing that would likely take him some time to get used to. While a patient's arrival wasn't something that often prevented him from being able to sleep, there were certainly a few times in which he was required to assist in treatment for the entirety of the night. The fact that the possibility of that kind of situation would no longer be a factor in his sleep schedule would be a bit weird oddly enough. It was just second nature at this point, though just like his father's morning sparring sessions, it wasn't something that he would be missing. Ichigo would force himself out the little trace, thinking about what would be different during life at Beacon was really just wasting time on his end. After all, he'd have plenty of time to do that after the journey. Keeping that in mind, he'd quickly begin moving forward, his destination being the edge of Karakura Town.

* * *

Reaching his destination wasn't all that challenging seeing as Karakura Town wasn't all that large, being similar in size to that of a smaller city. It wasn't really anything spectacular in terms of the sights within the town itself when compared to cities like those in Vale or Atlus. Having lived in the area his entire life, Ichigo was able to navigate every single street with extreme ease, even taking a few shortcuts during his walk. Within less than half an hour, he'd be able to see his destination coming into view. As the scowling teen continued to approach, his attention would be grabbed by a seemingly male voice.

"Ichigo!" It was within the blink of an eye that the source of the voice was met face to face with the bottom of Ichigo's boot. With a scowl the orange haired male would down at the figure that he had just kicked. On the ground was a slim male figure with medium length brown hair. After a moment, the male would stand up, being a decent bit shorter than Ichigo due to standing at average height. He seemed to have a bit of a scowl on his face which was accompanied by a somewhat sad expression.

"Why do you always have to do that?!" He spoke in an exaggerated tone in an attempt to appear much more hurt than he actually was. His spiky haired assailant would merely scoff in response before actually formulating a sentence.

"Because it's annoying! Not my fault you won't get that through your head after hundreds of times." Hundreds wasn't exactly an exaggeration either. This person was Keigo Asano, a former classmate and friend of Ichigo's. His overly goofy demeanor and hyperactive personality had been an occasional annoyance in the eyes of the Ichigo for years at this point. The biggest issues were either Keigo's horrible attempts at flirting and generally wooing women and his overly enthusiastic manner of greeting his scowling friend, both of which usually resulted in him being harshly struck down both physically and mentally. Yet, he still hasn't seemed to learn his lesson. It was a somewhat endearing truth be told. Endearing but also incredibly annoying.

"He's got a point Keigo. You really should stop doing that." A rather small figure with somewhat long black hair would approach the two. Both his higher pitched voice and softer features seemed to indicate that he was at least a few years Ichigo's junior, however this wasn't quite the case. The youthful male was actually also a former classmate of Keigo and the irritated Huntsman in training. Before Keigo was even able to respond, Ichigo would gesture towards the dark haired individual as he verbally agreed with his statement.

"See? Even Mizuiro agrees. Ya think you would've knocked it off by now."

"Aw c'mon! Don't be like that, it keeps you sharp y'know?" The two would stare at Keigo with deadpan expressions. At the moment, it seemed a bit hard to tell who was more disappointed in the statement. Regardless, Ichigo seemed to be quick with his response once again.

"Keigo every time I've missed, you immediately brag about it...And then I just hit you anyway."

"Would it kill you to be a bit nicer? This might be the last time we ever get to hang out!"

"You're saying that like I'm gonna be stuck in Vale for the rest of my life. I'll be back in a few months once they give us enough time off to make the journey back here."

"Glad to see I'm not late." A soft, deep voice would catch Ichigo's attention mere moments after finishing his own sentence. His brown eyes would quickly drift over towards his left as he managed to spot the source. It wasn't all that hard given the fact that the person that spoke just now had a few rather distinctive features about him, one being his gentle bass filled voice. The male was a rather close friend of the group, Yasutora Sado or "Chad" as most of his friends called him. He was tall, dark skinned man with rather pronounced cheekbones and wavy brown hair that hung over his brown eyes. His muscular frame and large stature made him quite intimidating even dwarfing Ichigo by a little less than half a foot despite the added inch or two from his boots. Unlike the orange haired male, Sado seemed to be dressed extremely, wearing a snug black polo shirt with long sleeves accompanied by a pair of khaki pants and black shoes. Had it not been for the bags he was carrying and the pair of contrasting metal gauntlets he was wearing, one would be inclined to think that Yasutora was simply seeing his friend off as opposed to accompanying him on the journey itself.

"I'm a bit surprised you weren't here before me Chad if I'm being honest. Speaking of being late though…" Ichigo would turn his head as his eyes began to scan the area for a few moments. He was looking for a few more people that seemed to be missing at the moment. Truth be told, he could see one or two of the individuals in question being a bit behind when it came time to leave but the other shocked him a bit as they were usually rather diligent in these matters.

"Where's Uryu? Not really like him to be late." His statement garnered a simple nod and short lived response from his giant companion. It didn't bother anyone though, most that knew Yasutora knew that he was a man of a few words for the most part.

"It is a bit strange." Before either of them could form another thought, some commotion be heard in the distance, the ruckus becoming increasingly louder as those involved seemed to move closer by the second. After some yelling, a faint thumping rang through the area as a pair of females came into view. Both had a lighter complexion and were of average height, standing a few inches taller than five feet, with the angerier of the two being just a bit shorter. She had short spiked hair similar to Ichigo's aside from the fact that her's was black. Her less frustrated friend seemed to contrast her appearance a bit with long orange hair and a rather curvaceous physique as opposed to raven haired girl's leaner athletic build. The two continued towards the already gathered group at a slightly increased pace promptly before stopping roughly around half a foot away from Ichigo and Chad. With a bit of a curious expression present upon his features, Ichigo would look towards the pair before opening his mouth to speak.

"What was that all about?"

"Chizuru was trying to get handsy again...Don't worry, she'll be fine. She probably just needs a few minutes." The raven haired female spoke in a disinterested tone as she gave an extremely abridged version of the prior exchange involving the red headed female. Despite her lack of concern for the girl's wellbeing, her companion seemed to be a bit more sensitive regarding the subject.

"Are you sure Tatsuki? You did hit her pretty hard back there…" Tatsuki would let out a quick sigh as she turned to face her friend for a moment. She wanted the matter to be dropped in all honesty. At times, she couldn't stand the overly touchy female and this was especially one of them.

"Orihime, she'll be fine. If she isn't then that's her fault for not knowing the concept of boundaries." Before she was able to respond, Ichigo opened his mouth to speak. There was something that had caught his attention as soon as Orihime had come into view, regarding her current attire, nothing else. Put bluntly, it was going a bit overboard for the journey they were waiting to embark on.

"What are you wearing?"

"Oh this? Its my forest combat outfit!" Orihime's brown eyes lit up a bit when questioned. When told that the group would be traveling through the mountains and the forest to get their designated stop for the air ship to Vale, the eccentric female had gone and bought an entire set of clothing for the occasion. It consisted of a black tank top, a pair of somewhat baggy camouflage cargo pants, a long sleeve camouflage jacket that was tied around her waist, and a pair of black combat boots. To top everything off, she even put her hair in a ponytail and put two black lines on each of her cheeks. While the enthusiasm for the endeavor was appreciated, it was hard to take her seriously when she looked like the lone wolf protagonist in some cheesy military action movie. Ichigo and Sado simply stared at the optimistic girl with deadpan expressions, not really being sure on how to respond to the situation. Tatsuki simply let out a deep sigh in response and began to explain what led to her friend's current choice of clothing,

"After we figured out what route we were taking to get to our stop, she apparently went out and bought all of this for the trip. When I went to her house this morning and she came out wearing this. Don't worry, she said it's just for the forest only if that helps."

"I guess it's good that she has it for uh...any stealth missions we might end up doing?" Ichigo still didn't quite know how to respond, attempting to show some kind of approval towards the orange haired girl's choice despite finding the choice to be a bit peculiar. Tatsuki smirked as she looked at her childhood friend's mildly confused expression, her brown eyes scanned him up and down for a moment, paying rather close attention to his own combat attire.

"Though I guess Orihime isn't the only one wearing something questionable, right Ichigo?" Her tone was a bit playful, making it almost painfully obvious that she had decided to tease the teeanger a bit.

"Huh? What's wrong with what I have on?" Ichigo responded with a bit of defensive tone, finding her comment to be a bit annoying. The tomboy would step forward and gently tug on the middle of the robes, gesturing towards the frayed bottom portion and the missing left side.

"What's wrong with it? The other half of it is missing and it's all torn at the bottom. I don't get why you would keep it unless you're going for the edgy protagonist look." This seemed to strike a nerve with the scowling male. His choice of attire was purely based on its functionality, not its appearance.

"I don't where ya got that impression but just because the robes are a bit beat up doesn't make them any less functional. Besides the additions I made to it more than makes up for it!" The smaller female smirked a bit as Ichigo's temper seemed to flare a bit. Honestly, she could guess what his reasons were in regards to his combat attire given how long she's known him but it was amusing to mess with him from time to time. Surprisingly Orihime had decided to speak up on the matter before either party could get another word in.

"I don't think it looks weird at all, it makes you look like a wandering warrior roaming the land!" The two found themselves blankly staring at Orihime once more. Her innocent and somewhat naive demeanor made hard to understand what was going on in the girl's mind at times. Even if Tatsuki was her best friend and had been hearing her say things like this for years, it didn't really make her odd, and sometimes specific, comparisons any less strange to hear. Furthermore, Yasutora would nod in agreement with her statement which only served to add to their confusion.

"Uh, thanks…" Orihime would smile brightly at Ichigo while their large friend would give a simple thumbs up. Thinking about it for a moment, the orange haired male decided that stirring the conversation away from his attire would be the best course of action as there were other matters that should be addressed.

"Anyone see Uryu?" When looking over the small group that had gathered near the edge of Karakura Town, all he was able to see were shrugs and the shaking of heads. Ichigo would let out a faint sigh as Tatsuki began to speak.

"We could do a last minute check and make sure we got everything we need before he gets here...Assuming we don't just end up having to leave without him." Not really waiting for a response, Tatsuki would look through the bags that she had brought for a moment before looking down at her arms and legs. This confirmed that she didn't forget to grab her weapon, a pair of red fingerless gauntlets, which wasn't surprising given she was rather diligent when it came to these things. Without much else to add given the nature of both their current situation and the suggestion made, those that were making the journey to the Kingdom of Vale would once more verify that they have everything they needed with them. Thankfully, their belongings seemed to be accounted for, clothes, weapons, hygiene products, essentially the whole nine yards.

"Ah, I forgot to mention it but Yuzu made us some prepackaged meals for the trip." Having just gone through his luggage once more, Ichigo would be reminded to tell everyone of what he had received before leaving the house. Needless to say, this was of course a huge time saver on their end.

"Aw, that was so sweet of her." Orihime practically squealed at the bit of information, finding the younger Kurosaki's care for both her brother and their wellbeing to be adorable. The sentiment coupled with the caring girl's approval of it had brought smiles to the faces of every person present. However, as unpredictable as humans are, the mood would be promptly shifted by a rather miniscule thing.

"So...where is everyone else?" The person behind this sudden shift was Keigo, who was currently wearing a bit of a curious expression. Ichigo would cock his head to face him for a moment before speaking.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't see Ryo, Mahana, or Michiru anywhere…"

"They're busy, Orihime and I already talked to them about Beacon and everything beforehand." Tatsuki chimed in with a rather neutral tone of voice. Her words however seemed to distress the brown haired male if his facial expression was anything to go off of.

"Busy?! How can they not have time to see their friends off? Who knows when you guys will be a-" His sentence was cut a bit short as his head itself on the receiving end of Zangetsu's hilt. Ichigo's usual scowl seemed to deepen as he groaned, watching as Keigo attempted to pick himself off of the ground.

"Their Tatsuki and Orihime's friends Keigo, don't go dragging me or Chad into it just because you're lookin' for a date."

"Why do you gotta be so cruel man?!"

"You don't exactly try to be all that subtle about it." Mizurio offered his own brief thoughts on the sudden sequence of events, much to Keigo's frustration and disappointment.

"Well, can't say I didn't expect all of you to be so rowdy this early in the morning…"

"Yo Uryu, what took so damn long?" Ichigo's attention quickly snapped from Keigo's dumb antics to the arrival of the final person in their little travel party. A faint "hmph" could be heard as the male pushed up the glasses he was wearing onto the bridge of his nose.

"Well if you must know Kurosaki, I had some business to attend to before we left." Uryu was a rather skinned male that was just a bit taller than average with a rather slender build. His black hair was straight and fairly long, being roughly chin length with his bangs hanging mostly on the right side of his face. His current attire was worth mentioning as well, making him stick out in similar fashion to Ichigo. The outfit was entirely white, consisting of a double breasted trench coat fasted with three emblazoned buttons on both sides, slacks, a pair of thigh high boots, and white gloves. There were a few splotches of color here and there with a blue stripe and cross being present on the upper portion of the white turtleneck shirt worn underneath the trench coat. The glove worn on his right hand also seemed to be adorned with blue lines that formed a simplistic design.

"Snazzy outfit ya got there."

"I pride myself on looking presentable. Even in battle, I'd rather not look like a barbarian." Slight traces of a smirk could be seen on the bespectacled male's usually stoic expression, seemingly finding his little jab at the orange haired male's combat attire somewhat amusing. His remark merely earned him a scoff from Ichigo.

"Y'know I'd rather worry about my fighting than a fashion statement. Guess that explains why you're not catching up to me in the combat department." A rather smug smirk would replace Kurosaki's usual scowl as he quickly noticed the nerve that he struck. The teenager's prideful manner simply didn't allow for him to live down being bested by the eldest Kurosaki child, especially considering the fact that he actually looked down on him during the first few months following their initial meeting. Since then, the two had formed a rivalry, one that was also the result of Ishida's pride. As much as it pained him to admit, in recent years, Ichigo's natural instinct in combat along with his experience against human foes, in the form of thug wannabe upperclassmen, had eventually led to what he considered to be one of his most shameful moments. The day that Ichigo Kurosaki had bested Uryu Ishida in combat.

"It's quite sad that a simple fluke would inflate your ego this much. How shameful."

"Fluke?! Last time I checked, I kicked your ass four-eyes!" Ichigo stomped forward, finding Ishida's underestimation of his abilities to be extremely insulting. To emphasize the second half of his statement, he would bend down to Uryu's height and nearly headbut him as he forcefully got in the dark haired teenager's face. However, he wouldn't back down, his pride wouldn't allow for it. There was just no way that Ishida would allow himself to be intimidated and insulted by a hot head like Kurosaki.

"Your ego must have corrupted your memories then!"

"Oh yeah?! How 'bout ya prove it right here then?!"

"Gladly!"

"Guys, please don't fight!" Despite Orihime attempting to dissuade the two from brawling, neither of their resolves seemed to waver in the slightest. Hell neither of them seemed to even acknowledge the girl's words. Tatsuki would cup her face as she shook her head, annoyed at how hot headed the two were at times. She would glance up at Yasutora for a moment before gesturing towards Ichigo and Uryu.

"Think you can break this up?"

"I should be able to." Without another word, the giant male would lumber forward, quickly closing the short distance between the two squabbling teenagers and the rest of the group. He'd place a hand on their chests before forcefully shoving them away from each other. He'd stand between them just in case they'd attempt to push his arms away and continue their little altercation and thankfully Orihime's voice would be heard before either of them could get a word in.

"Please stop fighting, we need to get going!"

"We're almost 15 minutes behind schedule!" Tatsuki's little addition caused Ichigo and Uryu to freeze in their tracks, while Orihime had made them a tad more reluctant to continue fighting, the news of how late they were currently running made them get their act together immediately. As soon as Chad released them, the two took off in a mad dash towards the exit of the town.

"Mizuiro, make sure Keigo doesn't get himself in trouble while I'm gone!" Ichigo offered a quick departing statement as he sprinted past the group. Neither of the addressed teenagers would get a chance to offer any kind of additional response as the rest of the group promptly began to follow after the two. At their current pace, the Karakura quintet would manage to find themselves outside of the town's outer boundaries within a few minutes.

* * *

Karakura Town was located in the outer regions of Anima as such the areas surrounding it were home to small mountains ranges and dense patches of forest. This meant that traversing the area by foot would take a decent amount of time to get pretty much anywhere. With their current destination being Vale, the five would have to travel through the forests that surrounded their hometown which unfortunately meant there was a rather large chance of setbacks. While the area that lies just outside of the town wasn't all that bad, aside from the occasional patch of rough terrain, the areas much further out were home to a plethora of people and creatures that they'd rather not encounter. Brigands, thieves, thugs, you could find practically every type of human or faunus scumbag roaming through the less inhabited portions of the continent. Then there was the creatures of Grimm which posed varying levels of danger. After making their way through all of that, they'd then need to travel towards the edge of Anima in order to get to their stop which was where the airship that transferred students to Beacon Academy would pick them up. With the journey to the stop being estimated to take between seven to ten days and the flight to Vale to take a day or two, the group was looking at just under two weeks of traveling in total.

Of course having lived in the region for most of their lives, the group knew of the potential dangers they might encounter and they weren't stupid either. It would be both foolish to think that they wouldn't end up running into trouble at least once over the course of their journey. It didn't matter if the threat would be minor or major, a setback was ultimately still a setback and they needed as much time as they could get. Naturally, it paid to be prepared for anything and thus a plan would be hatched through a somewhat lengthy discussion. The basic marching order was decided to be Ichigo and Tatsuki in the front, Orihime in the middle, and finally Uryu and Yasutora in the back. The reasoning was somewhat simple, Ichigo and Tatsuki were easily the strongest frontliners out of the five with both of them having a combat style more focused around close quarters. While not spectacular, their perception was nothing to scoff at either as the two were easily capable of picking up on any immediate threats ahead. Orihime was placed in the middle due to being more of a support than fighter, as such being placed in the middle allowed for her to be the most protected. That wasn't to say she wasn't capable of defending herself however, quite the contrary actually. Being friends with Tatsuki has led to the orange haired girl to learning both martial arts and self defense as well as developing a fairly decent combat sense. Not to mention, her Semblance was fairly versatile when it came to its application in combat meaning that the girl's role could change depending on the situation. Finally, Chad and Uryu were placed in the back. Yasutora was able to use his massive size to their own advantage here, having a rather broad field of view which would allow for him to pick up on threats that those in front of him may have not perceived. Ishida was in a similar situation, his natural perception along with his Semblance allowed for the group to have a much greater chance of detecting threats before they were able to harm them. There was also the fact that the bespectacled male's skill with ranged weaponry was his greatest strength thus allowing for him to likely make the most effective usage of said skills. Furthermore, his placement meant that he was less likely to be overwhelmed by an enemy in close quarters with the silent giant being more than capable of defending against most threats.

With the lengthy discussion regarding the party's marching order, the five would be able to focus on walking. Nothing really exciting, just walking through the forested area. Staying in complete silence the whole time would make for a dreadfully dull journey however. As such they needed a way to occupy themselves, a goal in which they achieved by employing a few different methods. There were points where someone would see something, point it out and then the group would talk about it until they got bored. Really, it wasn't quite effective in being a constant source of entertainment but when it was able to be used, it worked just fine. Other times, Orihime would decide to start up some kind of simple game, most of them being children's games, and having the rest of the group participate until it got old. By far, the most, predictably, effective method was talking. Any kind of random conversation regardless of their current surroundings seemed to be the easiest way to occupy themselves for the longest amount of time. The subjects that the Karakura quintet would bring up were fairly standard given the circumstances. There was a fair share of reminiscing done which made the group feel a bit weird as memories were a strange thing. In their heads, the events they talked about felt like they had happened maybe a week or month ago at the very most but it had actually been years. It was just peculiar to think how long ago some things actually happened and just how much time has actually passed since then. Of course, the talking didn't stop there, the topics seemed to get a bit more random after that point with the conversations ranging from being about why Orihime seems to enjoys eating such strange food to inquiring as to what everyone expected Beacon Academy to be like. The most recent conversation was centered around Ishida's obsession with capes and mantles, the whole discussion sprung up as a result of noticing that he had donned a long white cape after entering the forest. Ultimately, the talk escalated as Uryu became a bit more flustered with Ichigo even breaking the formation and halting their progress for a moment to counter a point being made by his rival.

"If you weren't so pig headed then perhaps you would actually see the benefits a cape has in combat." For the eight time since everyone started talking about the capes, he pushed his glasses up in an attempt to hide the fact that his face was becoming more and more flushed by the moment. Once again, his pride won't allow him to back down and embarrass himself despite the fact that he couldn't seem to get Kurosaki to buy into his argument in the slightest, and the rest of the group didn't seem to be swayed either.

"Fine, fine, you're right and I'm wrong! Let's just moving…" Ichigo did his best to not bust out laughing as he put on his usual scowl. Surprisingly, he had managed to convince the usually prideful male that he was actually accepting his point, or at least too annoyed to continue arguing. The black haired male couldn't help but let a smug smirk form upon his lips as he scoffed, walking past Ichigo with haste.

"Well, well, I'm surprised Kurosaki. I never expected you to recognize logic when it's laid out in front of y-" His sentence was cut off by the orange haired teenager stomping down against the white fabric of his cape. It was long enough to not just stagger him but actually throw him to the ground once the fabric was forcefully pinned against the ground. Having not expected this also prevented Uryu from recovering as he received a face full of dirt and grass. He groaned a bit as Kurosaki began to laugh quite loudly. Tatsuki stifled a chuckle while Orihime quickly moved towards Ishida, ensuring he wasn't injured in anyway. Yasutora...well he seemed like he found it somewhat amusing? It was a bit hard to tell considering his silence, though the very slight smirk seemed to hint at it.

"See? Capes just get in the way! Just admit it already!" Within the blink of an eye, the scowling male's irritation tone had returned as he pressured the stubborn male in white to just accept his point. Orihime pouted a bit as she looked towards Ichigo, it was obvious that she disapproved of his actions and truthful be told her slight glare made him feel kinda bad, keyword being "kinda."

"Ichigo, that wasn't nice!" Keeping his well built "cool and distant" demeanor, he would simply shrug as he diverted his attention back towards the caping loving teenager. Uryu had already started to rise to his feet once more at this point, dusting himself off in the process and checking for any potential stains in his clothing. Shooting Ichigo a glare, he'd opened his mouth to speak. However, the argument to be was interrupted by Tatsuki shoving herself between the two, clapping her hands somewhat loudly to further catch their attention.

"Yeah, yeah, Uryu is being dumb and Ichigo's being a dick, we get it. Anyways, its starting to get dark if you two didn't notice." The tomboy would point up to the darkening sky, the sun halfway hidden by the distant horizon. The amount of light was somewhat limited as it, the tall trees of the forest obscuring the sunlight even on the brightest of days. With that in mind, it was very clear that the light wasn't going to last for very long.

"Yeah I can see that. We should probably find a spot to rest for the night."

"That would certainly be our best course of action in my opinion. We'll need all the rest we can get for tomorrow." Uryu agreed with his rival for once, mostly due to his answer being based in common sense more than anything else. His blue eyes would begin to dart around the area for a few moments, seemingly scanning for a potential clearing or a similar area. While he had already scouted out a few potentially good spots to set up camp at, he figured that getting a group opinion would likely be best.

"I've found a few potential areas we'd be able to set up camp at, what about you four? See any good spots?" He turned on his heel to face the rest of the group wearing a bit of an inquisitive expression on his face which was signified by his slightly arched brow.

"Oh I do! Its over there." Inoue excitedly raised her hand in the air before quickly jabbing a finger towards the spot she found. Everyone else in the Karakura quintet would glance at each other for a few moments before looking back at the enthusiastic girl. Ichigo would simply shrug his shoulders as he walked forward.

"Wouldn't hurt to check it out." The orange haired girl smiled as she began to proceed forward, walking roughly about half a foot in front of Ichigo and Tatsuki as the rest of the group began to follow her. She would lead them through a rather dense patch of vegetation and shrubbery, the male trio of the group having to dip and duck a few times as the slender branches of the surrounding trees threatened to fling back and smack them across the face. It was only a few minutes of walking but it was definitely a bit annoying to navigate through the path Orihime had taken down, however it seemed to pay off quite well. As the five teenagers stepped over the last tree root, they'd find themselves within a rather wide clearing that was surrounded by similarly dense paths as the one they had just traversed. There was enough space for them to set up a makeshift camp, even with the amount of space that was needed for Chad. Not to mention, the path had caused to stray off of the well defined dirt path the group had been walking on for the past twelve hours or so, meaning that it was fairly well hidden which probably meant it was safe.

"Damn…" Ichigo was honestly flabbergasted as was Uryu. The spot was quite literally perfect for the group and she just locked onto it within a minute of being asked. The giant known as Yasutora would simply begin to wander around the area, inspecting it a bit more.

"It seems nice." The response he gave was to be expected but showed his approval nonetheless. Tatsuki moved forward, ruffling her friend's hair a bit as she walked by the girl.

"Good eye Orihime. So, how are we dividing the labor up?" She quickly switched the conversation towards setting up camp since talking could wait until they had a proper setup to rest. Ichigo would glance over the group for a few moments.

"Chad and I will clear out anything that might get in the way and gather some stuff to get a fire going. You, Orihime, and Uryu should probably work on getting everything ready." Tatsuki gave a quick nod as she sauntered back towards Orihime who would in turn grab Uryu's attention to inform him of their assigned duties in regards to the campsite. Ichigo turned his head to left, staring at Sado for a moment before speaking.

"You ready to get started on this?"

"Yeah." A simple word was all the confirmation Ichigo needed, moving towards the center of the clearing to start clearing out any stray branches or stones that were laying about with Sado following closely behind. The whole process wouldn't take all that long with the two of them, especially considering there wasn't much laying about in the first place. The majority of the branches were useless to them, not being dry enough to get any kind of decent fire started. The stones on the other hand seemed to have some use as a good portion of them were suitable for the construction of a campfire. Thankfully this meant that gathering stones or other heat resistant material was already done, leaving them with only one job. With the spot cleared and the other two venturing further into the forest in search of firewood, Orihime, Tatsuki, and Uryu would get to work on prepping the sight for their makeshift camp. With no tents to pitch, their work mostly consisted of finding good positions within the clearing to place everything and with their combined effort the three would find themselves finished relatively soon. This would give them a decent amount of time to relax until Ichigo and Chad returned which was when construction of their fire would begin. The whole ordeal took a bit over an hour, with the most time being spent on searching for wood and building the campfire. As soon as the fire was going, Ichigo would hand out the packaged meals that Yuzu gave to him this morning. Honestly, they were a lifesaver, not having to worry about finding food throughout the course of the day was absolute bliss. Especially at the moment, given how dark it had gotten within the short span of time that has passed since they first arrived at the clearing. Naturally, the five teenagers would decide to turn in for the night soon after eating, being rather tired from the long day they had. Soon they found themselves drifting into unconsciousness as the night would pass them by peacefully...hopefully.

* * *

**AN:** **Okay so I did notice that I alternated a bit between first and last names when referring to characters. This was mostly because I'm trying to not be repetitive and with five characters being in the group things can get a bit confusing with just pronouns. If this proves to be bothersome then I will work on finding better ways of referring to the characters. Speaking of characters, I tried to be much more detailed with my descriptions when introducing more major characters but I'm not too sure if I overdid it at some points. Not much else to say about the chapter but before I move on; I have set up a poll in regards to team structures for this story. I've been considering doing teams in a few different ways but managed to narrow it down to two options. The poll can be found on my profile and will be running until Monday, 7/29/19. Anyways, next chapter should be out within a week. If you have any questions, comments, or criticisms, feel free to include them in a review or shot me a PM. Any questions left in a review I will try to answer at the start of each chapter while questions via PM will mostly like be answered via PM unless of course the answer is something I feel everyone reading should see. Hope to see you all next time, see ya!**

**(Edit: 1/28/2020 - Saw a few grammatical errors that needed fixing in addition to changing part of Ichigo's combat outfit)**


	2. Chapter 2: Warm Welcome

_**AN: Hello again, glad to see those of you who stopped by for another chapter. Before we jump into things, I would like to thank you all for the general feedback and support on the first chapter. Moving on, three reviews were left on the story so I would like to take a moment to go through them and addressing any comments or concerns that I found.**_

**ChunkyFunkyMunky: I appreciate the feedback and will be keeping that in mind. As for the team comment, I don't plan on having five people on a team. I will be using more characters to ensure that there are only four people on each team. As for Tatsuki well, I plan on trying to not have her be useless. Thanks for reviewing, I hope you'll stick around.**

**SomethingAncient: I truly appreciate the kind words and you are mostly right with that assumption. I'll be trying to nerf and buff characters from both series to balance things out a bit.**

**Toast Guts: Thank you! Hope you enjoy this one as much as you did the last.**

* * *

Peaceful was likely not the correct word to describe the group's night in the forest clearing. Getting to sleep, now that was extremely easy, staying asleep however was a completely different story. The most notable event from the previous night was easily when they were awoken by the sound of animals scampering about the area. The little critters gathering around the area was admittabley a bit of an adorable sight at first, though Uryu and Ichigo had found themselves a bit on edge. Tatsuki had also been a tad skeptical while Orihime and Chad were overtaken by a mutual weakness: cute little animals. However the situation certainly wasn't cute, even to the aforementioned pair, when the rodents attempted to tear apart their bags in an attempt to steal their food. Needless to say this didn't leave them in the most joyous of moods.

Out of the five, Tatsuki and Uryu were likely the ones who expressed their displeasure the most. Furrowed brows, a scowl, and gritted teeth, honestly if one didn't know any better they might assume that the pair were simply doing an impression of a certain spiky haired individual. Speaking of which, Ichigo was...well, he was still scowling but it was a slightly different scowl that emphasized his displeasure. Most people likely wouldn't be able to tell the difference though, Tatsuki barely noticed it and the girl has been friends with the guy since childhood. Chad's expression was practically nonexistent as usual while Orihime was still spewing overwhelming amounts of optimistic despite the rough start to the group's day. Even with her best efforts however, she was unable to alleviate the trio's bad mood. While no one would be able to fault the cheerful girl for trying it was still painfully obvious that they were going to be like this for awhile. After all, losing out on the majority of one's rest for the night would likely put them in a rather bitter mood and a long trek through the forest likely wasn't helping all that much.

It had been about four hours since sunrise, which was also when they had started moving once more. So far, they had been lucky enough to not experience any kind of setbacks as a result of Grimm encounters or aggressive wild life. Obviously this was a good thing for them as the long journey had caused them to walk at a more leisurely pace in an attempt to conserve energy in the case of any threats or setbacks that might occur. Currently the Karakura quintet were walking along a dirt path with the shade from the looming trees offering them protection from the sun's rays every so often. The path could potentially be a bit of a hazard for them however, it was well defined which meant that it saw a lot of foot traffic otherwise the shrubbery likely would have dominated the area. Despite the possibility of bandits or some wannabe thugs confronting them their current route was likely the quickest. It may seem a bit arrogant but the five believed that they'd be more than capable of handling any of the common degerates that would assault a group of travelers, it was more or less Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Uryu who thought this but that's besides the point. When the topic came up in discussion Ichigo and Tatsuki's point was that they were all were many times more capable than the average person in combat scenarios while Uryu attempted to reassure the unsure Orihime and the indifferent Yasutora by stating that: "The moronic fiends would likely underestimate us due to our age." And it worked surprisingly, though a small argument broke out between Ichigo and Uryu over the latter's tendencies to state things in the most melodramatic way possible.

"Uryu, how far are we now? We've been at this for awhile." Ichigo yawned loudly as he finished speaking before attempting to rub the fatigue from his eyes. The sound of rustling could be heard as the fair skinned male began to rummage through his bags for a few minutes. Unfortunately, Ichigo wasn't feeling all that patient causing him to glance back at the bespectacled teenager.

"Well?"

"Well, I'd be able to tell you if you gave a moment to get my notes Kurosaki." He spoke in a rather annoyed tone. This caused Ichigo's eye to twitch for a moment as he seemingly became just as irritated.

"Give you a moment? Didn't realize that two minutes are shorter than a moment."

"Be quiet, let's see here…" His eyes quickly scanned the contents of the papers and notebooks he had pulled out. It would take him a few seconds before replying to the scowling male's initial question due to needing to calculate a few things.

"Seems like we're making better progress than I thought we would. We should be at the stop within four days. Five would likely be a more realistic estimate assuming we don't run into a large number of setbacks."

"Stop right there!" Just as Ichigo was about to respond a voice would catch the group's attention. Turning to see who had just shouted at them, Ichigo would find himself standing half a foot away from a middle aged man with a double barreled shotgun. He seemed to be about average height, being maybe an inch shorter than Uryu. His jacket and baggy pants were covered in dirt, appearing to just about as dirty as he was. From the looks of it, his weapon was extremely old and poorly maintained with rust covering a few sections of the barrel along with the wood on the stock being yellowed. The mantle lover's assumption seemed to be right as he was staring at the group of five with a wide grin, which unfortunately allowed them to see his rotten, yellow teeth.

"No sudden moves less y'all are lookin' to get hurt. Empty yer pockets and leave them bags ovah there." He attempted to gesture for the group to drop their bags where they were currently standing by swinging the gun barrel a bit however it just came off as being extremely awkward and forced rather than intimidating. Ichigo and Tatsuki stared at the man with equally blank expressions while Uryu seemed to be a bit more disgusted.

"There's only one of you? No goons ready to jump out of the bushes if we move?" The wannabe thief would raise an eyebrow at Ichigo's comment, seemingly confused as to why he would even bother asking.

"No, why would there be?" As if waiting for some kind of cue, Tatsuki would abruptly lunge forward, lowering her body as she quickly closed the distance between herself and the shotgun wielding male. The tomboy easily managed latch her fingers onto the barrel of the gun, pointing it at the sky before delivering a harsh elbow strike to his stomach and yanking the weapon from his grasp. The would be robber didn't even half a moment to collect his thoughts before a large metal object smashed into his face, shattering whatever Aura he had left from the first strike as he was forced into the dirt.

"Ah! Dammit! I think ye broke someth-" His sentence was cut off by the gleaming blade of Zangetsu which unfortunately was pointed at him. If Ichigo's scowl was anything to go off of, this guy's situation wasn't looking to good.

"Get out of here." It was clear that the brigand didn't need to be told twice as he scrambled to his feet before rushing back into the forest. Ichigo let out a huff as he placed his blade on his back, a satisfying click indicating that it was fastened securely. His brow eyes drifted towards to see what see was doing with the shotgun that was left behind.

"Don't plan on keeping it?" The black haired girl scoffed at the comment as she continued to pry the rusted shell from the gun's barrel promptly before tossing them to the side.

"Hell no, who knows where this thing has been." To emphasize her point, she would throw the poorly kept weapon into the nearby bushes.

"Here, you might want to take a moment and disinfect yourself." An open pack of disinfectant wipes was promptly place in front of Tatsuki's face as Uryu urged her to take one. "If his smell was anything to go off of then you should do so sooner rather than later." The martial artist would simply nod before taking two from him, one being for her fingers and the other being for her gauntlets.

"Are you two alright?" Orihime spoke out, her words seeming to hold some level of concern for Tatsuki and Ichigo. Her worry for their wellbeing was more so on the mental level rather than the physical. Even if they were planning on being Huntsmen and Huntresses, it didn't change the fact that getting held at gunpoint wasn't exactly an experience that any of them were familiar with.

"Yeah, we're fine." Ichigo gave a slight shrug, being a tad indifferent to the entire situation.

"That didn't seem pleasant." Chad's sudden remark seemed to earn a slight smirk from the orange haired swordsman. In this particular situation, it seemed that Tatsuki was more bothered about touching the dirty weapon than Ichigo or herself were about having a gun aimed at them.

"Yeah, pretty sure that guy lives in the woods or something. He reeked…" Tatsuki's comment seemed to earn an awkward chuckle from Orihime and Ichigo as well as a slight smirk from Uryu and Yasutora. While she hoped for a slightly better reaction on her little jab at the wanna be highwayman, she was content knowing that she managed to little the mood a bit. Given the events that had just occurred, the five of them did a quick scan around them to make sure there weren't any more surprises awaiting them before continuing on their journey.

"We're making surprisingly good time despite that little encounter. I never expected a run in with a thug to be such a minor setback."

"You're gonna jinx us!" Whatever train of thought that Uryu had going, or anyone else in the group for the matter, was swiftly cut off by Orihime shouting at him. Her sudden interruption caused the traveling party to be momentarily dumbfounded, staring at her with widened eyes and cooked eyebrows.

"I'm...I'm sorry? Would you mind running that by me one more time?" The male adorned in white seemed to have a rather skeptical tone lacing his words. There was also the slightest undertone of disbelief as he didn't quite feel that he heard the cheery girl right. It almost sounded like she said…

"You're gonna jinx us if you keep talking like that Uryu."

"Well, with all due respect Inoue I don't really see how my words will have any impact on how our journey plays out."

"Just ignore it Uryu, we need to keep moving." Ichigo cut the imminent discussion short with a rather blank tone, gesturing for everyone to keep moving.

"Well it's true!" Orihime pouted for a moment as Tatsuki rolled her eyes before glancing back and lightly patting her on the head.

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Don't talk about things not going badly so they don't end up going wrong. Got it, c'mon we're moving."

* * *

"I told you! You shouldn't say things like that when things are fine!" Despite what she was saying, Orihime's word didn't hold any kind of emotion aside from concern for the other four people within the group.

"Now is really not the time for that!" There was an important lesson that Tatsuki had just learned. It is extremely difficult to have a loud conversation with a friend while fending off Beowolves.

It was almost like Uryu's words had offended some kind of deity or ancient wizard because only half a day later the five teenagers had found themselves fending off of a large pack of Grimm that just finished ransacking a caravan. Fortunately Uryu managed to pick up on this before the group had got within striking range which had allowed for them to prepare a bit. The sound of Uryu's Sanrei Kojaku meca shifting from its folded state into a body sized bow was the indicator that the party would be engaging soon. His Semblance allowed for him to quickly track and determine what they were up against as well as confirm that they would be unable to avoid a mildly lengthy battle due to numbers alone. After he had confirmed that everyone was ready for battle, the bespectacled teen pulled the drawstring back causing a shimmering blue arrow to manifest between his fingertips.

That was a basic summarization of the events leading up to the current conflict. Ichigo harshly brought his blade down upon a Beowolf that had lunged at him, the steel edge easily rending through whatever matter the creatures of Grimm were made of. A few feet behind him, Tatsuki easily ducked under a broad attack from one of the beast's claws. She retaliated in an instant, embedding her fist within its stomach before activating Deadly Magnum's special feature. The red gauntlet radiated a red light for a moment before unleashing a small wave of fire from the knuckle area. The scorching flames tore through the Beowolf's body before enveloping two of its brethren that were attempting to join in on the battle. They didn't seem to stay ablaze for long however as two glowing blue arrows would pierce through the bone like armor covering their heads' causing the beasts' bodies to break down in moments.

"Not sure if I should be glad that you got my back or mad that you stole my thunder there!" Tatsuki shouted back at the group's archer with a slight smirk on her face. Uryu flashed a smirk in return before pushing his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose.

"You can never be too safe."

"You got that right four eyes!" His moment of pride would cut off by an incoming Zangetsu before swung around by the cloth on its tang. Uryu quickly crouched under the weapon's arc as it cleaved clean through a Beowolf mid-leap. The black haired male gritted his teeth as he felt a vein on the side of his head bulge out tremendously.

"Care to mind where you swing that Kurosaki?! You could've taken off my head!" Ichigo wore his signature scowl as he reeled the oversized Khyber sword back in, snatching it out of the air as soon as it was within arm's reach.

"I know your Aura is strong enough to take a scratch from this thing. Besides, I wouldn't have to swing my damn sword anywhere near you if you watched your ass for a minute instead gloating!"

"I happen to keep a very close eye on my surroundings thank you very much!" His sentence was followed by the sound of a Beowolf being pummeled into the ground by Yasturoa's Brazo Derecha de Gigante mere inches from where Uryu currently was standing. The large male looked down at the smaller archer for a moment as he opened his mouth for a few words.

"You should keep a closer eye then." The only sound that was more prevalent than Chad's bass filled voice in his Uryu's mind was the sound of Ichigo laughing hysterically at his misfortune. This was short lived as the sound of glass shattering alerted the orange haired male to look behind him. Faint fragments of a glowing yellow substance could be seen fading to nothing as a Beowolf was attempting to stand back up only to be permanently downed by none other than Orihime delivering a devastating axe kick to its neck causing an unpleasant crack to ring out through the area.

"Seems like you still remember what we went over!" Tatsuki spoke with a grin upon her features, wiping a few beads of sweat from her forehead as she approached the two. Her brown eyes hardened for a moment as she glared at Ichigo before swifting her attention to Uryu for a moment. "It would also be nice to have a warning for the next time you two want to start a pising match in the middle of a fight."

"Tell that to the barbarian over there." Uryu wore a deep scowl that could easily rival Ichigo's usual expression as a result of being positively furious at being accused of disrupting the fight for such a trivial reason. Ichigo merely scoffed in response as he rolled his eyes at the two of them.

"Alright Captain Arrow, don't get your cape in a bunch." Ichigo having been labeled as a delinquent for most of his life did have some benefits. One being that he knew how to piss off people that were overly uptight and Uryu's pride just made him the perfect target for this skill. Having been properly acquainted with the guy for three or four years now, he already could imagine how the reply he was due would be.

"How many times do I have to tell you? It is not a cape, it is a mantle." He was blissfully aware of the eldest Kursosaki child's little jab for roughly 1.009 seconds before the aforementioned male's snickering and muffled cackling gave it away.

"Are you having making a fool of me Kurosaki?" Uryu was trying so, so very hard to be more mature and not push the situation any further but Ichigo made that more and more difficult with every passing second.

"I've got no idea as to what you mean ." Forcing that sentence out of his mouth nearly resulted in Ichigo dying from laughter. Not wanting to explode into hysterics, he wordlessly began to move along the path in front of them.

"The nerve…" Uryu gritted his teeth as he waited for everyone else to start moving so the Karakura quintet would be able to reform their original marching order.

"I swear you two are like little kids…" Tatsuki spoke rather loudly, making sure the troublesome pair heard her. Shaking her head, the tomboy began walking at a hastened pace in order to catch up to Ichigo. Orihime followed behind her soon after, once again not approving her friends teasing one another.

"You shouldn't be so mean to Uryu, Ichigo! He worked very hard on making those you know."

"Inoue, telling him that doesn't really help…" He spoke in a low and somewhat defeated tone as he watched Orihime get back into position. After a moment, he felt a firm grip upon his shoulder, immediately directing his attention to his left only to find the imposing form of Yasutora standing beside him once more.

"I think you did a great job on them." It seemed that Chad was trying to be helpful in regards to the mantle situation. While it wasn't much, it was still fuel for Uryu's pride, and his love for that specific article of clothing.

"I appreciate that. We should get moving lest we be left behind." Being the quiet person he is, the large male merely gave a nod in response to his friend's words. With those two moving once again, their little traveling party was functioning normally once more.

* * *

Calling the last few days eventful was likely putting things likely. With every hour that passed, it started to feel as if the group had actually angered some kind of all powerful being with their words in some way. The five of them had spent a decent amount of time shifting the blame to different things, Ichigo and Tatsuki blaming the former's horrendous luck with things like this, Uryu just chalked everything up to mere coincidence, and Orihime of course had been re-stating her whole speel about not jinxing things. Finally there was Yasutora...who was completely silent during the whole course of that conversation.

The obvious annoyances were the Grimm, while thankfully not in as large a pack as the first one they had face, fighting them still meant wasted time. Unfortunately there was no real way to avoid combat once they noticed them. This wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the fact that the group has had to deal with entire groups of brigands that wasted more time talking than they did exhibiting their ridiculously sloppy skills with both gun and blade. There was the entire animal ordeal, the attempted theft of their food supply became such a frequent occurrence that they had to set up a guard system complete with member rotations, excluding Chad and Orihime for obvious reasons. That wasn't even covering the absolutely horrid weather they had been experiencing. Four storms complete with gales and harsh downpours, all while traversing through the dense forests and cliff sides of Anima was not exactly something that any of them would look forward to doing again.

Thankfully, roughly an hour after the rain let up the group managed to locate a small village. After a quick glance at his notes and maps Uryu informed the group that they were practically at their stop with the quaint settlement being half an hour away at the very most. So, the five had gotten themselves situated and rented some rooms. They desperately needed some rest and having the next three days to just longue about was nothing short of pure bliss to them at the moment. Shortly after the Karakura quintet had broken off to their rooms, Tatsuki staying with Orihime, Ichigo rooming with Yasutora, and Uryu having his own room because he felt that staying in the same room with Ichigo would mean the death of other himself or the scowling male.

A rather pleasant sound filled Ichigo's ears as he re-entered his room. Sitting on the edge of the bed on the left hand side of the room was Chad lightly grasping his bass guitar as his large fingers quickly plucked at the instrument's strings. The orange haired male quickly ruffled his hair with a towel in an attempt to fully dry it as he moved towards the bed on the opposite side of the room.

"That part of something you wrote or you just playing whatever comes to mind?" Yasutora simply shrugged as he continued playing only offering a small sentence in return.

"Bit of both."

"Nice," Ichigo would take the towel off of his head and drape it over his shoulders before leaning back. His brown eyes would quickly glance over to his large friend as he grabbed the remote for the old television set positioned towards the center of the room.

"Mind if I flip through the channels a bit? Gonna be a bit before our clothes are done drying."

"No, go ahead. I think I've figured out where I'm going with this." Yasutora spoke in an even tone as he propped his guitar up against the bed before taking a pencil and writing a few things in a spiral bound notebook. Ichigo would press the power button causing the aged T.V. to come to life. The image quality was rather poor but neither of them really expected anything too fancy considering the village seemed to be a bit on the poor side. He would continue to flick through the channels, passing by a few documentaries, an old school romance movie, and a show with some tanned dude with glasses, a moustache, and an obnoxiously flash outfit. As Ichigo went to change the channel, Chad would stop him.

"Leave this on. I kinda like this show." The orange haired male would raise an eyebrow at his words as he looked over at him. Before shrugging and directing his attention back to the box shaped television set.

"Forgot you liked Ghost Bust. I could never really get into it though."

"Mhm, I just think Don Kanonji is kinda funny when he runs into ghosts."

"Meh, pretty sure Yuzu said something like that awhile back."

"Come to think of it, weren't you on his show before?" This caused Ichigo to groan rather loudly as he heard the remark.

"Please don't fuckin' remind me of that Chad." He spoke in a rather low voice, being physically pained by the unfortunate memory that the gentle giant had just brought up. His response had caused Chad to chuckle audibly.

"I don't get why you get so upset about it. Just means you were on T.V."

"You and Keigo both say that but think about it. I was on T.V. with that guy!" Emphasizing his point, he pointed at the eccentric man posing on the screen as he apparently located a "bad spirit."

"How'd that even happen again? Sounds like something you wouldn't usually agree to."

"Eh, well apparently someone opened their mouth about that whole thing with me seeing ghosts and low and behold that guy and his producers showed up at my house. They asked me to assist with the production of an episode so I thought I would be helping set stuff up on site."

"Makes sense."

"Not to mention the money was pretty good too. Only had to help with one episode and they were paying like 116,000 Lien?"

"That's a lot of money."

"Exactly! I was sitting there thinking 'I'd have to be out of my mind to turn this down' and now I'm wondering if embarrassing myself by being on the same screen as that guy was worth it or not."

"I'd say it was. Your episode was pretty funny. I think you should have done another one." Ichigo merely scoffed in response at his comment.

"Not in a million years man." Ichigo would adjust himself, hanging his legs of the bed, facing Yasutora's direction. "Here, catch." He'd lightly toss the remote towards the usually silent male who'd easily catch.

"You going to sleep already?"

"Nah, I figured I'd go check on our stuff and grab a snack or something. Should be back in 15 minutes or less." He spoke as he began to rummage through his bags for a few moments, pulling out a black tank top and a pair of red slides. After taking a few seconds to put them on, Ichigo promptly moved to the door before exiting the room.

Unsurprisingly, the only thing that greeted him on the second floor hallway was the tacky wallpaper that seemed to be from a few decades ago. Ichigo makes his way down the hall, coming towards the stairs before feeling a rather solid object make contact with his shoulder. The sound of a thump would draw his gaze downwards to the source of the noise. He barely had a moment to fully process what had just occurred before a rather a somewhat deep and mature female voice rang through out the area.

"Watch where you're going you fool!" Saying that Ichigo was a bit surprised by the appearance of the female was an understatement. She was a fair skinned girl with medium length black hair with quite a few strands hanging in her face. In all honesty she appeared to be a few years younger than him if her stature was anything to go off of since she was only a few inches taller than his sisters who were somewhere around four and a half feet tall. Her large purple eyes didn't really help with making her look any less youthful. This left him with a bit of a dumbfounded expression present upon his features, he was finding it increasingly hard to believe that the voice had come from the small person in front of him.

"Uh...Sorry about that?" While she still glared at him, the girl seemed to have deemed it as an acceptable apology as she turned her back to him with a rather audible scoff. He raised a brow as he noticed her attire. She seemed to be wearing a red kimono with an orange obi and a rather intricate floral design. It looked incredibly expensive which only served to make her stand out even more than she already did with her more traditional choice of clothing considering the building they were in. The inn wasn't falling apart by any means but it certainly wasn't the kind of place that Ichigo would expect to see a seemingly rich person in. Letting out a rather shallow sigh, the scowling male quickly moved on with his night and proceed with his business.

* * *

The rest of the night had gone on without much of note on Ichigo's end. He and Chad's traveling clothes had dried a few hours after him checking on them. The two had just sat around and watched whatever had come on the television set with the limited amount of channels it got with Yasutora being much less interested in what they watched due to his general indifference to most T.V. shows. Eventually, the two ended up passing out, allowing them to catch up on some much needed rest. The next two days didn't bring much worth mentioning either as the five from Karakura Town had passed the time by moving between rooms and lounging about. They had some rather basic conversations from time to time, watched whatever was on T.V., and occasionally played some games, ranging from something that Orihime had made up entirely or brought along with her to the handful of video games that Ichigo had remembered to pack. One might say that they were spending their time like a bunch of lazy teenagers during their summer vacation but they'd be damned if they hadn't earned a bit of relaxation before finally heading off to Beacon.

Finally the day had come for them to complete their journey. The five woke up at the crack of dawn to ensure that they had all their belongings in order. The main hitch that occured on this day was basically the group convincing Uryu that he should just dress casually rather than wearing his much more formal looking combat attire. After a quick meal, the traveling party from Karakura proceeded to make the rather small journey to the stop followed by a waiting period that lasted for just under two hours. There was quite a large number of people of present by the time by the time the airship had arrived. Aside from some shoving and pushing that occured while trying to board the aerial vehicle, there weren't really any issues that came up. That was until the airship actually took off.

Ichigo hadn't expected the ride to be quiet, he really didn't. It'd be hard to have an entire airship filled to the brim with 17 year olds to stay completely silent during a flight that would take more than a few hours. But the amount of noise that managed to arise from the passengers was definitely a bit more than the scowling teenager had bargained for. Out of the Karakura quintet, he and Uryu seemed to be the ones that had an issue with the level of noise, however they quickly got over it with some outside assistance. Orihime had predictably not been bothered by it and actually ended up causing the other four to contribute to the racket due to her own insistence on expressing the excitement she felt in regards to attending Beacon.

Between the group's own moments of silence, they'd be able to hear some of the other happenings and conversations that were going on. Obviously, any conversations heard were fragmented as none of them were really fond of the concept of eavesdropping, especially on some random conversation that would probably be the exact same or painfully similar to the ones they were having. Everyone was excited about getting to attend one of the best Huntsman Academies in the four kingdoms of Remnant so that much was natural. Orihime had been randomly pointing out random little things about the other passengers, like their outfits, their height, their weapons, how they look like they're going to projectile vomit all over the ship, etc. Naturally they had also been on the receiving end of some stares from the other passengers. Ichigo's bright orange hair. Yasutora's gargantuan size, and Orihime's "assets" were a few of the perceived reasons. There were a few comments that had managed to catch, mostly being based around their looks as none of them were exactly what one would call unattractive. However, there were some people that got carried away with their remarks, as one might expect. This is where Tatsuki came into the equation.

She was very sure that Uryu, Ichigo, and Chad didn't exactly mind the female attention and would be able to fend for themselves in the case of hearing more perverse comments however, she didn't quite feel like Orihime would be capable of the same. Put rather bluntly, the girl was a bit of an airhead and as a result Tatsuki had taken it upon herself at a very young age to fend out unwanted or negative attention that was directed at her best friend. This led to her staving off those who were leering or gawking by way of glares, threat of physical violence, and the occasional brief argument. Orihime was blissfully unaware having entered one of her day dream periods in which she lets her imagination run wild while standing there with her mouth hanging open. Chad was much too quiet of a person to go out of his way to say something unless they were actively harassing him or his friends. On the other hand, Ichigo and Uryu were far too busy trying to keep their "cool guy" image together as both of them were fairly perceptive and just so happened to catch a few of the lewder comments that were made in relation to their appearances. Honestly, had they been a few years younger, the two likely would have a vibrant crimson hue across their faces but thankfully the pair weren't quite as easily flustered as they were when they were 15. Between catching other people's comments and hearing Tatsuki's little "disagreements" with some of the other passengers, Ichigo had personally attempted to divert his attention elsewhere with Uryu seemingly taking the same course of action.

He soon found his eyes drifting towards a large holographic screen with a news broadcast being projected onto it. It wasn't really something that he'd watch regularly but it would have to do. From what he could gather from the reporter, some dust shop was robbed recently in the city of Vale. He was a bit surprised to learn that the suspect, Roman Torchwick, a criminal who was apparently already wanted for a multitude of other crimes, hadn't been apprehended. After giving the usual spiel about contacting the local police department if you know where the guy is or if you saw him the reporter would turn the broadcast over to a woman named Lisa who would change the subject matter. She'd go on to talk about a Faunus civil rights protest that had gone south after the White Fang decided to show up and disrupt everything. Unsurprisingly, the protest became violent soon after the Fang came along. There wasn't really a chance for any more details to be revealed as the screen simply faded away. In its place, a holographic projection of a blonde woman in glasses and a white blouse would appear.

It was clear from some slight murmuring, and a female voice even questioning who was on screen, that there was a decent amount of students that also didn't quite know who she was. After a few moments it was revealed that her name was Glynda Goodwitch and given the fact that she was greeting them via a hologram meant she was likely one of the more important staff members at Beacon Academy. She would go on to give a rather predictable welcome message to the potential first year students. In short, the entire thing was basically a bit of an ego stroke accompanied by some words of encouragement for them to work hard during their time at the school. Uryu seemed to be indifferent but on the inside the message had worked as intended to some degree. Yasutora as usual was silent, being completely indifferent to the whole thing. Ichigo also lacked any form of interest in the words that were spoken by the hologram, it may have actually annoyed him if anything. Tatsuki seemed to share a similar attitude to Chad as she didn't really see the need for them to reiterate about how much a privilege having the chance to attend Beacon was. Orihime contrasted her best friend since she was rather visibly excited about the whole ordeal.

The hologram had quickly dissipated as the projection of the woman had finished giving its message to the students. The group quickly noticed that the vast majority of the students had started to shift over towards the windows. Orihime was quick to grab Tatsuki by the wrist and call out to the rest of the group to follow. Being somewhat curious about what the big deal was, the remaining male trio would follow behind her. Uryu tried to look generally disinterested in whatever everyone else was looking at in an attempt to look cooler with Ichigo doing the same with the only key difference being the latter's trademark scowl and furrowed brows. Then there was Chad, who was generally hard to read for the most part.

"Woah! Look at that!" Orihime excited exclaimed as she pointed her finger towards the windows in an attempt to further pique the group's interest.

* * *

As the airship began to approach the city of Vale, the potential first year students on board looked out at the view in complete amazement. Those who were more familiar with the city and the surrounding areas would waste no time calling out their old academies as well as shops they frequented, or just interesting spots and buildings they knew. The group from Karakura were absolutely awestruck with each of them needing a good minute or two to fully process everything that they were taking in. While Karakura Town wasn't exactly what you would usually call a town, it wasn't exactly a city and given its location in the continent of Anima, most of them hadn't been far away from their hometown. The only exception to this was Yasutora who lived in Vacuo for a few years as a child, although the area he was in was likely the furthest thing from a city. As such, the closest thing to a city that the group knew was the more urban looking areas in their hometown. Needless to say, the experience for them was a bit different when getting a good look at a proper city. From the altitude the ship was at, the city lights looked stunning. They seemed to form a display of sorts, one similar to the way one would decorate for the holidays. While obviously this wasn't the actual cause, many of the newcomers to the city seemed to liken them to this due to the way this sight was presented to them. It was a nice treat for the eyes for sure but what followed this was a bit more breathtaking.

Beacon Academy displayed in its full glory was soon presented to the airship's passengers. The school itself rested upon a sprawling cliffside with a rather large body of water resting beneath it which appeared to be a docking area of sorts. The actual campus was much more impressive however as it easily grabbed the attention of each and every potential student. Ichigo, Uryu, Yasutora, Orihime, and Tatsuki soon found themselves doubting that they had gotten onto the right airship in this moment. This was supposed to be a school right? An academy meant to train future Huntsmen and Huntresses? It was...different to say the least. The five had grown up going to a rather normal school, one designed just like pretty much any other building in their town was. It was simple and by no means off putting but this...this was something they only thought one would be able to experience in fairy tales. A long avenue covered with trees, flags, and aqueducts, sprawling towers and archways that only grew more impressive to look as the closer the ship got. Truth be told it was a tad bit overwhelming for not only the quintet but for a large portion of the passengers as well. While they had seen the school, or at least parts of it, in photos and videos, the actual sight of Beacon was an entirely different experience. Their time spent admiring the building they were supposed to spend the next few years of their lives training at would be cut a bit short as the airship soon prepared itself for landing. The students had to actually enter the building before anything else could start after all.

* * *

The five had to be careful when it came to moving through the ship's exit. The large mass of students was almost as overwhelming as the sight of the prestigious academy itself. With some shoving however, they managed to position themselves towards the front of the crowd which allowed them to have front row seats to the scrawny blond guy Orihime had pointed out earlier during the ride rushing towards the nearest garbage bin and promptly vomiting into it. Needless to say, the sound of their peer's heaving and gagging was probably at least as unpleasant as their journey from Karakura Town.

"I suppose some people have a hard time with high places…" Uryu spoke in a hushed yet disgusted tone as he averted his eyes from the sight of the boy. His companions would give him a silent sign of agreement as they nodded their heads and kept moving in an attempt to further distance themselves from the mess that had just greeted them.

"I can't believe it, this place is huge! It's like something out of a movie, or a story book, or a-."

"We get the picture." Orihime's sudden outburst of excitement was quickly cut short by Tatsuki patting her on the head like a parent or sibling would do with an overly excited child. Chad would take another look at the surrounding area, still being rather impressed by the sheer scale of the campus.

"It is a bit overwhelming."

"Right? Wonder how much it costs to build a place like this?" Ichigo had decided to partake in some casual sight seeing as they continued forward. The bubbly, orange haired girl being silenced moments prior didn't seem to sully her good mood judging from the way she re-inserted her way into the conversation.

"I bet it took like billions of Lien! Oh! What if this place was really a castle and they just made it into a school?"

"Given the architecture, I can't exactly say that would be entirely far fetched for either of your claims Inoue. However, the school was only founded 80 years ago so I somewhat doubt that the school was actually a former castle." Uryu spoke in an even tone as he relied the information regarding the school's history. Orihime lightly clapped as he finished speaking, finding the little tidbit of information to be both interesting and mildly entertaining.

"You really know a lot of stuff Uryu."

"Of course, I've always believed that one should be well informed about their surroundings. Naturally, that also extends to our educational facilities." He wore a slight smirk on his face as the girl praised his mental capabilities. Tatsuki wore a slight smirk on her face as she glanced over at Uryu. The tomboy would throw a gentle jab at Ichigo's shoulder before nonchalantly gesturing towards the bespectacled male. He merely scoffed at her which prompted the raven haired girl to roll her eyes at his supposed indifference. Having known Ichigo since childhood meant Tatsuki understood him much better than most people would. For example, while he was trying to be the distant, cool guy, he was actually rather glad that Uryu was able to get along with everyone despite the two constantly throwing taunts at one another as a result of their rivalry.

"Y'know when I pictured us going off to a school in a different part of the world, I didn't really expect the place to look like this. When you say a school for training people to be Huntsman I just pictured some more...I dunno… boring?." Tatsuki had decided to continue the conversation in regards to the sheer size of the school grounds. The main reason was that she was somewhat eager to experience her viewpoint and that she wished to keep the conversation relatively open. Using the time in between responses, she would admire the surrounding area in an attempt to take everything in.

"That's what I was saying before Tatsuki! It kinda doesn't feel real…" The girl's pace slowed abruptly as she continued to stare at the marvelous structures with her mouth open. The group had almost left poor Orihime to the mercy of the crowd but thankfully Tatsuki had quickly picked up on what was going on. The tomboy came to a halt for a moment before turning around and lightly clapping in front of the daydreamer's face.

"Hello! Remnant to Orihime." Being brought back to reality, she would nervously giggle in response to her best friend's words.

"Ah, I was spacing out there wasn't I? Sorry about that everyone…" Ichigo merely shrugged in response to her apology.

"You're fine, we should keep moving though. Though, uh...Where the hell are we supposed to go?

"Seems like everyone else is just walking down the avenue. So following them would probably be fine."

"Seems like a good idea. Thanks Chad."

"No problem, Ichigo."

"Perhaps you should keep a better eye on your surroundings Kurosaki. Maybe you won't need to ask about such obvious things."

"Whatever." Ichigo's seemingly annoyed grumble pleased Uryu. He would smirk to himself now that the score for their little jabbing competition was 2 for Ichigo and 2 for himself.

Seeing as the crowd was quite literally just moving forward in a straight line, there wasn't much to be discussed or to be observed for the duration of the walk. The crowd of students both in front of and behind the teenage quintet made it an even simpler task than it already was. Sure enough they'd find themselves nearing a large door within minutes although their attention would grasped by the large, decorated entryway. While it was much more impressive up close, the five didn't really show much care towards it. In all honesty, the walk down the avenue quickly wore down the campus' initial charm.

Continuing forward, the massive crowd of students would find themselves entering into one of the many buildings present on the campus of Beacon Academy via the rather large doorway. The dense formation of first years slowly begins to thin out a bit as they began to pour into the academy's main hall, splitting into smaller groups in the process. As one might expect, the area did become crowded rather quickly with the noise level of the room raising rapidly with each new group that entered. However, the room soon began to fall silent as the crowd noticed the appearance of two figures on the stage.

The first was a pale, middle aged man with tousled gray hair and dark glasses, standing somewhere around six and a half feet tall. In his hand was a cane with a rather unique design. His attire consisted of an open black suit over a dark green vest with matching slacks and dark leather dress shoes. For some reason, he also seemed to be donning a cowl with some kind of cross like pin attached to it. Judging from his appearance and his presence on the stage, this was likely the headmaster of Beacon Academy, Ozpin. To most of the students, he likely appeared to be a sophisticated older gentleman that was about to impart a nugget of wisdom in their minds via a speech. However, he reminded those from Karakura, especially Ichigo, of a certain candy shop owner if said individual "didn't dress like shit" as a certain scowling teen would put it.

The second figure appeared to be Glynda Goodwitch, the same blonde woman from the projection that welcomed them on the airship. She was rather tall which furthered emphasized by the large heels she wore. Her attire was a bit like a mix between what a stereotypical teacher might wear and the outfit that would be worn by a mage or a witch in some sort of medieval fantasy, this being mostly due to the ragged purple cape she sported. However one of the most noticeable things about her was the riding crop that she carried around for some reason. In all honesty it was just plain weird to most people but it deemed add to her intimidating and authoritative aura. Any murmuring that may have been heard moments prior had completely ceased as Ozpin stepped closer to the microphone.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the prote-"

'Does this guy spout this bullshit every year?' Ichigo had found himself nearly zoning out a few times during the course of the headmaster's short speech. For some reason, he seemed to be getting a familiar vibe from the headmaster, whether it was good or bad was something he was unsure of. Yasutora didn't really have any opinions in regards to the speech as he stood and listened so did Tatsuki and Orihime. On the other hand, Uryu attempted to analyze each word that was spoken. It wasn't bad by any means, the message was rather clear to most and was one that should be taken to heart for the tasks that might lay ahead. However, most of the students had pictured the whole "Welcome to Beacon" speech as being a bit more upbeat and motivational.

The unexpectedly serious tone had left most of the students with a decent bit on their minds. As such, the body of first years had started to murmur to themselves as they awaited further instructions. Ozpin merely walked off the stage, leaving only Glynda remaining. She stepped forward, green eyes scanning the crowd for a moment as she spoke.

"We ask that you all gather in the ballroom tonight. Your invitation shall begin tomorrow. Be ready. You are dismissed."

"Great, the headmaster's a weirdo and his second in command has a stick up her ass."

"That's a rather crude way of putting it Kurosaki...But I do admit that Headmaster Ozpin strikes me as being a bit strange."

"I'm sure they're not all that bad you two." Orihime interjected her own opinion into the short exchange. While their sentiments were understandable, she still didn't quite like the two talking about people they didn't know in such a negative manner. "I mean we haven't even had any classes with them or talked to them yet."

"You're wasting your breath Orihime. Especially with Strawberry there, he could give a mule a run for its money in the stubbornness department."

"What the hell did you just call me Tatsuki?" Ichigo's eyes narrowed as his furrowed brows began to twitch in annoyance. The girl had taken great pleasure in occasionally poking fun at at the scowling boy using that nickname. It had bothered him since the two were children however, the mere mention of it genuinely enraged him shortly after the group had entered high school.

"What I'm calling you by your name. No need to get all bent out of shape."

"You know damn well my name means 'he who protects' not strawberry." Orihime giggled along with Tatsuki, though for a slightly different reason. She didn't quite enjoy getting a rise of the orange haired male but she did find some of the faces he makes to rather amusing. Uryu on the other hand was trying to erupt into hysterics. He considered it to be justice that his rival was being teased for such a trivial thing, similarly to how they poked fun at his mantle roughly a week ago. Yasutora had simply smirked as he observed the exchange, watching as Tatsuki began to walk away from the stationary Ichigo.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop. We should get moving anyway."

* * *

Some time had passed since the headmaster had addressed the students and sent them to congregate within the ballroom. The potential first year students had of course spent their time socializing within their own pre-established groups or branching out into others. Of course as night fell, some groups would be required to split up. While the current sleeping situation involved both male and female students being housed in the same area, they were required to sleep on opposite sides of the room to reduce the chances of "complications." Currently on the male side of things, Ichigo, Uryu, and Yasutora were changing into some more comfortable sleeping attire. However, something would certainly catch them off guard in the midst of things.

"Looking good boys!" Their attention would be immediately drawn towards a blonde girl in an orange tank top with a slight smirk on her face. Ichigo turned his back to the girl and hurriedly slipped on his t-shirt in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. Uryu on the other hand seemingly froze up before following suite. Chad while clearly a bit flustered was the only one out of the trio to react in a much calmer manner, opting to not look within in her direction. As they continued to get themselves situated, they could hear the voice of another female seemingly bickering with the girl from before. None of the guys tried to eavesdrop so they could only assume that it had something to do with the comment directed towards them.

The blonde was in rather high spirits as she roared in laughter at the male group's reaction to her little remark. That wasn't to say that she exactly could blame them for behaving in such a way. She had a rather curvaceous yet well built figured, being like a mix between Orihime and Tatsuki, along with long, golden blonde hair. Not to toot her own horn or anything but the young woman knew that she was far from just average. She would promptly flop down on a sleeping bag, directing her lilac eyes to a smaller female figure.

"Y'know this is kinda like a big slumber party!" The other, pale girl with red and black hair would continue to write on a small piece of paper. She didn't even look up from the paper as she offered a brief response.

"I don't think dad would approve of all these boys though...Or you hitting on them."

"I know I do!" Looking ahead at some of the shirtless males, she would let out a purr before making eye contact with a blond male wearing rather childish pajamas. He would wave to her, causing her to groan before turning her head away from him.

"So, what do ya got there sis?" To emphasize what she was talking about, the blonde would tap the corner of the page.

"Its a letter to the gang back at Signal. I promise to tell them about how things are going and how Beacon is."

"Aw Ruby, that's so cute!" She was promptly silenced by Ruby via a pillow being launched at her face.

"Shut up Yang! I didn't get to bring any of my friends with me to school! It's just weird not knowing anyone here." Yang would quickly sit up and scoot closer to her younger sister as she spoke.

"Well, what about Jaune? He's...uh, he's nice? Right? There you go! Plus one friend so, that means a 100% increase!" Ruby would roll her eyes before rolling over onto her back.

"Then there's Weiss, pretty sure she counts as a negative friend. Back to zero…"

"No such thing as a negative friend. You just made one friend and one enemy!" As the last of the words left her lips, Yang was swiftly assaulted with another pillow, this one being in the shape of a dog's head. She was once again knocked onto her back as it made contact with her face. The elder sister quickly rose back up, tossing the pillow aside as she looked towards Ruby once more.

"Okay, look," she said in a somewhat encouraging tone. "It's only been one day. Trust me; you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet!" The faint sound of two girls laughing would catch her attention for a moment. Yang turned her attention towards Ruby once more, who seemed to be contemplating what her older sister had said. A devilish grin began to take shape on the blonde's face as she slowly stood up.

"Don't worry about Ruby, you'll be just fine." Suddenly the shorter of the two found herself being yanked to her feet. "Because your big sister is here to help! C'mon, let's go make you some friends."

"Woah, what are you doing?! Wait, wait, wait…" Ruby's moderately high pitched voice came out as a flustered squeak as she attempted to free herself from the clutches of her extroverted sibling.

"Nope, we're doing this right now!" Yang's energetic tone seemed to catch the attention of the individuals she was leading herself and Ruby towards. The two females watched the sisters approach them with curious expressions.

"Hello girls! How're you two liking Beacon so far?" The black haired tomboy simply shrugged before answering verbally.

"It's not bad, but I can't really say much until we actually get to something."

"I think it'll be fun once we get past the initiation." The orange haired girl spoke in a rather cheery tone, similar to Ruby when a conversation steers to weapons.

"What about you?" Yang gave a slight shrug with a smile before speaking.

"I'd probably say the same thing both of you did." Her eyes would drift towards her side, glancing at Ruby who was hanging back a bit. While the girl had never really made friends as easily as Yang did, it was quite plain to see that being at Beacon didn't help at all.

"Anyway, I'm Yang and this shy little gal here is my younger sister Ruby."

"Uh, hi, nice to meet you…"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Tatsuki."

"I'm Orihime, pleased to meet you two."

"So….." Yang racked her brain for a moment in an attempt to find an interesting topic. There was the whole thing with the initiation tomorrow, even though it might be a bit bland it would probably the easiest way to hold a conversation for now.

"What are your weapons like?" The other three female students present would turn towards Ruby who had suddenly squeaked out her passion filled question. Her silver eyes would quickly snap towards Orihime, Yang, and Tatsuki for a few moments. She almost felt like she said something wrong judging by their blank stares.

"Uh, uh, I'm sorry, I just think weapons are really cool is all." Tatsuki would chuckle rather loudly while Orihime would giggle a bit. Yang sighed in relief before letting out an awkward chuckle. She was worried that her sister would come off as being way too weird in the other girls' eyes. While Yang would have just told them to take a hike in that case, it really made getting Ruby out of her shell a bit easier.

"Nah, you're fine. I'll show you Deadly Magnum before things get too busy tomorrow. I could try to describe them to you if you want though." Ruby immediately took a seat and scooted about four inches closer to Tatsuki within the blink of an eye. She stared at the older student with eyes full of wonder as she vigorously nodded.

"Okay so basically they're a pair of red, fingerless gauntlets. Mostly just use them to punch since I prefer to get up close when I'm fighting."

"Oh! Sounds kinda like Yang and her Ember Celica. Do you have any kind of ranged options built in or like a side arm?" The blonde couldn't help but feel proud of her baby sister. However, since she was mentioned by name, she may as well join in on the conversation.

"Yeah, I got mini shotguns in mine. Gotta say though, kinda surprised to meet another brawler on the first day." Tatsuki chuckled at her last comment, the feeling was certainly mutatal.

"I'm more into martial arts than street brawling but I definitely get what you mean. I never could get into the whole gun thing though. So, I never added any kind of mecha shift function to it but I do use Dust."

"That's so cool! You did say that your gauntlets don't mechashift though so does the Dust just blow up when you punch something?" Ruby leaned forward further, becoming slowly more engrossed in the conversation by the moment.

"Yeah, or something like that. If I punch something and press the trigger on the side of the index finger, the Dust just kinda goes off. I mostly use fire Dust and that shoots out of Deadly Magnum like a wave. I dunno if I'd fully consider to be a ranged option though. It's way more effective if I use it right after hitting someone."

"That's kinda neat, bet that looks pretty cool when it goes off."

"Oh it does!" Orihime interjected in a hushed but excited tone. "It like those fighting games that I've seen you and Ichigo playing when that one guy with the headband does his special move with the fireball."

"Oh! Oh! I know exactly what you're talking about it! That has to be so awesome to see!" The two swiftly sidetracked the conversation with the overwhelming amount of energy they exuded. Yang and Tatsuki smiled, both being pleasantly surprised at how similar the two were in terms of their mannerisms. As the little talk regarding fighting games, giant robots, and a plethora of other things finished out, the conversation would quickly turn back to its original topic.

"Oh yeah! You didn't tell me what your weapon was like Orihime."

"I'm sorry, guess we got a little side tracked there…" The two bundels of energy would chuckle awkwardly for a moment.

"Let's see here…" Orihime would place a finger on the side of her face and stare up at the ceiling for a few moments. Her mouth started to hang open a bit as she began to space out while thinking. Ruby having never seen this before was extremely confused, as was Yang. The raven and redheaded girl would slowly turn her gaze towards Tatsuki and Yang, her voice coming out as a loud whisper.

"Did I break her?"

"Nah, just give her a second. She does that when thinks too hard...a lot actually." Tatsuki mumbled that last part to herself as she began to think about ways to possibly break her friend's little habit.

"Okay!" The abrupt return of the orange haired girl's cheery voice would seemingly startle Ruby, who nearly fell onto the floor.

"My weapon is called Shun Shun Rikka, it's a really nice shade of blue and it's made up of gauntlets and my hairclips." She gleefully pointed to the two shimmering six petal flower hair clips that were positioned at the ends of her bangs, tucking them neatly behind her ears.

"Your hairclips?" Yang was probably the most confused out of the group as Ruby ignored the odd design and eagerly wanted for her to continue.

"Yeah! When I touch one of my hair clips while wearing the gauntlets it makes my Semblance stronger."

"So your gauntlets are amplifiers?" Ruby scooted a bit closer, asking in a rather eager tone.

"Yep!"

"You're forgetting about the hair clips Orihime."

"I was just about to ask about those." Tatsuki chuckled at Yang's comment.

"Just making sure she stayed on track."

"Don't worry about it Tatsuki, I was getting to those." Orihime would wave her hand dismissively as she attempted to reassure her friend that she was still on track. It wasn't working but Tatsuki would let it slide for the effort.

"My hair clips were tinkered with to also be Aura amplifiers. When I use them with the gauntlets, its like super amplifying!"

"That's awesome! What's your Semblance do? Is it something offensive, is strong? Is i-"

"Ruby, give the poor girl some breathing room will ya?" Yang laughed a little bit as Ruby had practically scooted up to the girl's face as she shot off her rapid fire questions. It was kinda adorable in her opinion, her little sister was like a little puppy trying to play whenever the conversation was about weapons. Now only if she could get her to act like that with other things…

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to invade your personal space like that…"

"Don't worry, its fine, its fine." Orihime once again used the same dismissive gesture and cheery tone as she reassured Ruby that she wasn't bothered.

"My Semblance is kinda hard for me to explain though...Oh I know! I could just show y-"

"Save it for tomorrow Orihime." Tatsuki looks towards Yang as the conversation was cut off.

"Sorry to cut them off but its getting kinda late. We'll see before initiation starts okay?"

"You know it! Catch ya then." Yang would snap a pair of finger guns at the two as they got up promptly causing her to laugh at her own gesture.

"Bye bye!" Orihime cheerfully waved at the two sisters as she stood before following Tatsuki back towards the spot that they laid their sleeping bags at.

"Goodnight!" Ruby called out as she energetically waved at the two.

"See? What'd I say? Friends all around that you haven't met yet!" Ruby would awkwardly shrugged as she started to speak.

"That wasn't so bad I guess…"

"Plus two friends! That's a 300% increase on your end just on the first day. Think about it Rubes, if you keep this up: you'll be the most popular girl in the first year class!"

"Pfft, like that'll happen. That's definitely going to be you by the Vytal Festival."

"Stop selling yourself short sis. You're way more likeable than you're giving yourself credit for."

"I'm saying I'm not likeable...I'm just like a people type of a girl y'know?" The two's attention would be caught by a candle being lit lit nearby. Leaning up against a nearby wall was a fair skinned young woman with long, wavy black hair adorned in a long black shirt. She seemed to be engaging in some late night reading which explained the candle.

"That girl…"

"You know her?

"Not really, she saw what happened this morning, but left before I could really say anything."

"Well ain't it your lucky day because now's your chance!" Once again Ruby found herself being yanked to her feet by Yang.

"Oh gods, please not again!"

* * *

The night was passing by relatively peacefully for Ichigo, who was currently on the verge of passing out. Uryu fell asleep rather easily as did Yasutora, however the scowling teenager had stayed up a bit later as he had some things to think about. He mostly thought what he was gonna say to his sister and his dad when he told about the journey and Beacon. Then there was Keigo and the others that are still at Karakura Town, no doubt his Scroll was going to be blown up with notifications from him at the very least. He'd have to message or call him to let him know how things are going. With his thoughts all sorted out, he was ready to go sleep...Or at least he thought he was.

Unfortunately, Ichigo would be stirred from his rest sooner than he would like. After taking a few moments to get his senses in check, he began to hear exactly what it was that had interrupted his sleep. Somewhere in the room, a group of the 1st years had decided that it would be a great idea to have a full blown argument while everyone else was trying to sleep. With a huff, he pulled himself into a seated position on the floor. Ichigo began to scan the room, his brows slightly more furrowed than usual. After a minute or two of searching, he spotted a short girl with what appeared to be black...or maybe red hair, a much taller young woman with golden blonde hair, and an unexpected female figure. Snow white hair, pale skin coupled with a blue nightgown… A Schnee? It hadn't been for the recent scandals that had been blared over the news for the past few weeks, he probably wouldn't have been able to recognize anyone associated with the massive Dust manufacturer. It didn't really make much sense as to why someone from that family would even bother with coming to Beacon, but he wasn't going to dwell on it too much. After all, people turning down an easier life to try and become Huntsmen isn't too uncommon, he and his group were exactly like that after all.

He could have sworn that he's been awake for at least five minutes now and the commotion still hasn't died down. Honestly, he wanted to just ignore them and lay back down but this was getting kind of ridiculous. Doing his best to not wake up Uryu or Chad, the scowling teen pulled himself to his feet. He went to walk, stopping for a moment before looking at the area that he had been sleeping. As a bit of a last resort, he yanked one of the pillows he had been using from the ground and continue on his little venture towards the center of the room. Ichigo cleared his throat in a loud and slightly obnoxious manner in an attempt to get the attention of the three girls in addition to the one he hadn't noticed that was reading a book.

"Could you keep it down? Its kinda hard to get any sleep with all the yelling."

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! We'll try to keep it down." The silver eyed girl was rather apologetic, and quite frankly she felt a bit embarrassed that she ended up making such a scene. The taller blonde offered a quick apology as well, while she seemed much less bothered by the situation she seemed to share the same sentiment. On the other hand, the Schnee girl looked less than pleased. It wasn't like before she made her feelings on the whole ordeal clear with a huff.

"Excuse you, they were the ones who were being loud. I was w-" Without any warning, she was silenced as the pillow that once grasped in Ichigo's right hand made contact with her face and took her off balance. She quickly swatted it off of her as she sat back up and glared at her "assailant."

"Good. Night." She prepared to retort as the oranged haired teen turned away and began to walk away. However, the room grew a bit darker as the girl with the bow in her hair blew out the candle at her side. Continuing to fight seemed a bit ridiculous at this point, with the silence having just been restored...for the most part at least. After all, a little squabble that probably will never be brought up by anyone shouldn't keep them from resting up for the big day.

* * *

_**(Edit: 12/31/2019 - Ichigo's temper was a bit too much here, especially at the end. At first, I figured I would just leave it in but after thinking on it a bit, I ultimately decided that it would be better to actually rewrite the ending scene.)**_

**AN: Ight, so I apologize for the chapter being finished like month later than it was supposed to be. I had about 5k words written for an old draft of this chapter and almost none of it actually worked with this current version of the story. As a result of not reading through things beforehand, I ended up underestimating how much I'd have to revise and rewrite. I also had some writer's block on some parts unfortunately so some sections may not be as good as I would have liked them to be. Lot of dialogue in this chapter as well so hopefully I didn't end up butchering any of the characters in the process. I did originally want to make this chapter a tad longer, but I figured that ending it at the night before the actual Emerald Forest section would be better since the chapter is already over 10k words. Now for the poll I posted, the results ended up coming back in a bit of an indecisive manner so all of you are just gonna have to wait and see how things turn out with the teams next time. Anyways, leave a review if you got any comments, questions, or criticisms and I'll address them as best I can at the start of the next chapter. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have questions or concerns that you would prefer to be answered right away though. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, see ya next time.**


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